Octopus

The octopus belongs to the group called cephalopods and is another member of the mollusc family. The octopus makes it home in a hole or rock crevice in shallow waters. It can squeeze through tiny cracks because it has no bones. By day, it spends most of its time hidden in its lair but as daylight fades it emerges to hunt. Its large lidded eyes are adapted to function in dim light and can identify its prey by movement and patterns. It also contracts its pupil to control the amount of light entering the eye. They are nocturnal by preference but can be seen during the day if their lair is repeatedly disturbed.

Octopus are shy and highly intelligent creatures and feed mainly on crabs and other crustaceans. These are caught with their 8 suckered covered tentacles and crushed with a horny, parrot-like beak in the centre of their soft bag like body. Octopuses are masters of camouflage, able to match instantly to reef textures and colours. This helps them to hide from potential predators and leap out at unwary prey. Another form of protection is when they use jet propulsion, by driving water into a sac in their bodies which is pushed through a small tube called a siphon. They can also leave a cloud of dark “ink” in the water to confuse and hide their retreat. The life span of an octopus is short, between 1 to 3 years.

When 2 octopus mate they appear to be holding hands, in fact, the male is pumping waves of sperm down a specifically modified tentacle to fertilize the female’s eggs. The life span of an octopus is short, between 1 to 3 years.